Small plane crashes on El Cajon street near Interstate 8 ramp

A pilot suffered major injuries Thursday after a small plane crashed on a heavily trafficked El Cajon street near an Interstate 8 overpass, authorities said.

The pilot, a 65-year-old man from San Diego, was taken to a hospital and is expected to survive, California Highway Patrol Officer Travis Garrow told reporters at the scene.

There were no other occupants on the plane, Heartland Fire & Rescue spokesperson Andy McKellar said.

The single-engine plane crashed onto Greenfield Drive about 10:35 a.m. It grazed a concrete railing on the freeway overpass, then “skipped off the hood” of a vehicle headed east on the street below, Garrow said, adding that the impact caused moderate damage to the vehicle.

No one in the SUV was hurt, McKellar said.

That no one else besides the pilot was injured was a “pretty lucky” outcome, Garrow said, noting that Greenfield Drive is “a very active route.”

A stretch of Greenfield Drive was closed to traffic in both directions. The crash site is located about 4½ miles east of Gillespie Field.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were called in to investigate. No further information was immediately available.